“Fuck Her Tears”

Dancer Equired, Times New Viking's debut album for Merge, finds the rowdy three-piece in the midst of a natural progression, gradually easing away from their challenging sheets of distortion. First single "No Room to Live" showed them trying on a more delicate form of songwriting while scrubbing away the static with dirty Brillo pads. And while they're talented enough to make that work for them, album highlight "Fuck Her Tears" finds the band bashing away at the sort of freewheeling, punk-leaning indie rock they're so good at.

The better production values allow for "Fuck Her Tears" to be the punchiest Times New Viking song to date, with Adam Elliott's kick drum carrying enough velocity to kick you in the chest. Beth Murphy's vocals and keyboard lines are high enough in the mix that finding the melody in the song doesn't have to serve as a scavenger hunt, and Jared Phillips' gleefully belligerent guitar whips and thrashes around like a drunk, overzealous teenager. The band also uses a newfound sense of tightness to carry their purpose, all while adopting a sense of romance, with Murphy and Elliott boisterously singing, "My heart it beats, yes/ To your silhouette," toward the song's close. While Times New Viking explore new songwriting outlets, on "Fuck Her Tears" they show a willingness to bolster and refine the type of songs they're already excellent at writing.